New Meters Will Mean Higher Bills

A settlement agreement in the Public Service Company of Oklahoma rate case will allow the company to offer Advanced Metering Infrastructure for all customers, providing new tools for customers to better manage energy bills.

PSO announced plans in November 2013 to begin full deployment of AMI across its 30,000 square-mile service territory, with the goal to replace more than 520,000 existing electric meters with new AMI meters by the fourth quarter of 2016.

Customers’ use of the new AMI rate plans and energy management information made possible with AMI will directly contribute to their level of savings to offset the cost of the new meters over time. In addition, customers’ quality of electric service will improve through enhanced outage restoration capability, electronic reading of meters, remote connections and disconnections, and virtual elimination of estimated meter readings.

If approved by the OCC, the settlement will result in a small increase for the costs associated with AMI deployment. The cost of AMI will be $3.11 per month for residential customers beginning with the first billing cycle of November 2014.